Policy Papers
Biden Tax Hikes: A Plan to Put America Last
KEY TAKEAWAYS Prior to the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, there was bipartisan consensus that we needed to bring the tax burden on U.S. businesses in line with our global competitors. Now President Biden wants to go backward by raising taxes on U.S. job creators, putting them at a significant disadvantage against their foreign competitors. Higher taxes are not a way to advance American innovation and leadership; they are a mistake that will alter the trajectory of our economic... Continue Reading
May 24, 2021
Democrats' Tax and Spend Monster
KEY TAKEAWAYS The Biden administration laid out plans for $7 trillion in new spending in less than four months in office. This dwarfs previous federal spending and is nearly as much as what the U.S. has spent on all wars since World War I. The administration has also proposed $3.4 trillion in tax hikes on job creators, workers, small businesses, and family farms – the largest tax hike in half a century. The Biden administration committed to $7 trillion in new spending in its first... Continue Reading
May 20, 2021
Bad Iran Deal 2: The Sequel is as Bad as the Original
KEY TAKEAWAYS The Biden administration is negotiating to reenter the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, granting Iran substantial sanctions relief in exchange for short-term limitations on its nuclear program. Senate Republicans have offered to work with the president on a strong deal that covers the whole spectrum of destabilizing Iranian activities, but the administration has rebuffed those efforts and moved to return to the Obama-era deal. The Biden approach sacrifices significant sanctions leverage... Continue Reading
May 19, 2021
To Fix America's Infrastructure, Make it Easier to Build
KEY TAKEAWAYS America needs to rebuild roads, bridges, and other major parts of our infrastructure, and the current lengthy process for environmental reviews undermines our ability to make updates. The average environmental impact statement takes 4.5 years to complete and covers 661 pages of documentation. For projects requiring approval from the Federal Highway Administration, the average EIS takes more than seven years. New investment in infrastructure should be paired with efforts to make... Continue Reading
May 18, 2021
Waivers for Vaccine IP: Folly Masquerading as Charity
KEY TAKEAWAYS The Biden administration recently signaled its willingness to waive intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. It will take other countries years to be able to produce sophisticated U.S. vaccines, and they will use precious raw materials that could otherwise increase production by existing manufacturers. People living in poorer countries will not benefit from the waiver, but Russia and China will get free access to cutting-edge U.S. technology. Earlier this month,... Continue Reading
May 13, 2021
Broadband in America
KEY TAKEAWAYS The Biden administration has proposed spending $100 billion on high-speed internet, focused on the failed model of municipal broadband networks. Democrats should work with Republicans on ways to increase broadband access that are fiscally sound, prioritize competition and consumer choice, and are transparent and accountable. A group of Republican senators proposed allocating $65 billion for broadband as part of their infrastructure roadmap released last month. Broadband, a... Continue Reading
May 12, 2021
April 2021 Biden Border Crisis Report
Southwest Border Encounters April 2021: 178,622 Change from 2020: +161,516 Breakdown of Southwest Land Border Encounters April 2021 Single Adults: 111,301 (up 613% vs. 2020) Unaccompanied Alien Children/Single Children: 17,171 (up 2,217% vs. 2020) Family Unit Aliens: 50,016 (up 6,677% vs. 2020) In April, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 178,622 individuals attempting to enter the country illegally, up 3% from March and up 944% from... Continue Reading
May 11, 2021
Unemployment Benefits Should Not Stand in the Economy's Way
KEY TAKEAWAYS Businesses cannot find enough workers, even though millions of Americans are unemployed. Some businesses say overly generous unemployment benefits that pay more than some jobs are contributing to the problem. As more Americans are vaccinated and the economy recovers, it is essential that businesses be able to hire the workers they need to meet growing demand. Despite millions of Americans being unemployed due to the COVID economic shutdowns, businesses are reporting that... Continue Reading
May 7, 2021
April 2021 Jobs Report
Unemployment Rate: 6.1 percent Jobs Created: 266,000 Employment and Unemployment The Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 6.1% in April. Nonfarm jobs increased by 266,000 in April. In February and March, job creation was weaker than first reported. The department revised the change in nonfarm jobs for those months down by a net 78,000 jobs. The U-6 unemployment rate, a broader measure that includes part-time and... Continue Reading
April 30, 2021
Democrats' Tax Hikes Will Hurt Recovery
KEY TAKEAWAYS President Biden has proposed a mammoth $2 trillion tax hike − in the midst of an economic recovery − to pay for Democrats’ spending spree. Biden’s tax increases would slow economic growth, reduce wages, and undermine American competitiveness. The pre-COVID U.S. economy was thriving due to pro-growth policies like the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. President Biden’s tax increases would cripple the economic recovery. The 2017 Republican tax reform... Continue Reading
April 29, 2021
COVID-19 Update
KEY TAKEAWAYS More than half of all U.S. adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and more than one-third are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is administering about 2.7 million vaccines doses per day. The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the value of American innovation and what can be achieved when the federal government works with the private sector. These partnerships have produced effective treatments and testing for the COVID-19. More than half of the United States adult... Continue Reading
April 29, 2021
Semiconductors: Key to Economic and National Security
KEY TAKEAWAYS U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors, which are critical to our economic and national security, has fallen from 37% of global output in 1990 to 12% in 2020. China aims to be the global leader in chip manufacturing by 2030 and is massively subsidizing its semiconductor industry in an attempt to get there. The Defense Department has tried to buy computer chips from secure, domestic producers. But the companies that participate in DOD’s Trusted Foundry Program are at risk of... Continue Reading
April 26, 2021
Democrats' Student Debt Forgiveness Favors High Earners
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats are pushing to cancel $50,000 in student debt for borrowers. This would be unfair to Americans who did not go to college, paid off their student loans, or worked during school to avoid borrowing. Targeted programs already exist that make student loan payments manageable for borrowers with low incomes, even forgiving debt entirely after a certain amount of time of payments. People with higher incomes, including doctors and lawyers who borrowed for their education, would... Continue Reading
April 22, 2021
The Democrats' Plan to Pack the Supreme Court
KEY TAKEAWAYS Senate and House Democrats have introduced legislation to pack the Supreme Court, expanding the number of justices from nine to 13 in order to guarantee liberal victories at the court. The Biden administration also created a commission comprised almost exclusively of law professors to review proposed changes to the Supreme Court. A recent poll found just 26% of Americans support packing the Supreme Court, compared to 46% who oppose it. Last week, Democrats in the Senate and House... Continue Reading
April 22, 2021
Biden "Infrastructure" Plan Shatters Bipartisan Tradition
KEY TAKEAWAYS The United States faces significant challenges in water and transportation infrastructure − areas where the federal government has traditionally focused its limited resources. Congress has historically passed bipartisan legislation to improve our nation’s infrastructure; it should build on this history to address the country’s most critical needs. Instead, Democrats are pushing a partisan, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink spending bill paid for with massive... Continue Reading
April 20, 2021
S.1: Unnecessary and Unpopular
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats have said that S.1 is necessary to increase voting rights, particularly for minorities, but overall turnout in the 2020 election was 66%, the highest share of eligible voters since 1900, and most states had their highest turnout in 40 years. Minority voters were especially likely to say the election was run and administered well: 88% of Black voters, 76% of Asians, and 68% of Latinos. Polls have found strong opposition to key provisions of S.1, with 77% supporting the... Continue Reading
April 19, 2021
Practical and Legal Problems with D.C. Statehood
KEY TAKEAWAYS Democrats in the House and Senate have proposed granting most of the land in the District of Columbia to a new state, to be called “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth.” The remaining federal District of Columbia would still have three electoral votes, with the president and his family potentially being the only voters awarding those votes. The plan would provoke thorny constitutional issues and create a new state very different from current states. In the push to... Continue Reading
April 16, 2021
China Looks to Seize the 21st Century
KEY TAKEAWAYS China is challenging the United States militarily, geopolitically, and economically to supplant an open and democratic system in favor of one that advances the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. China’s economic aggression includes IP theft, state support for key industries, forced technology transfers, and wide use of cyber operations to conduct economic espionage. China and the U.S. are locked in a competition that in some ways is already beginning to define the... Continue Reading
April 14, 2021
Key Players in Cybersecurity
KEY TAKEAWAYS Congress established the Senate-confirmed position of national cybersecurity director to help unify the work of dozens of federal agencies with cybersecurity responsibilities. Responding effectively to the SolarWinds cyberattack and other threats will require significant coordination and communication among government agencies and the private sector. Cybersecurity operations by the Department of Defense and intelligence community focus on our adversaries overseas, while other... Continue Reading
April 12, 2021
S.1 Is Not the Voting Rights Act
KEY TAKEAWAYS Leading Democrats have frequently compared S.1 to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ignoring sweeping differences between the two, both in substance and legislative process. The VRA, which prevents states from discriminating against minorities, passed with broad bipartisan support, and each of the five major updates were bipartisan. S.1 contains many provisions unrelated to voting, as well as dozens of half-baked ideas that states will struggle to implement before the next... Continue Reading